Haibike sDuro HardSeven SL 2015 Yamaha (7 Month 1600 Miles)

[georgehenry]

Cross Country Night Ride

I had a great ride yesterday, a 42 mile round trip with a large proportion off road, and the return journey home after dark.

The off road portions after dark were challenging mainly due to only having one front light, a moon 320 lumen bar mounted one. A good light but not really enough for technical off road tracks. I had to slow down and pick my way with care.

Also one large chunk of the off road route was in an unfamiliar area, Ludshott common where it could have been easy to get lost, but I ended up at the car park exit I was aiming for on the other side, but more by intuitive guesswork than anything more empirical.

Even on the two other large common areas I crossed where I know the tracks well my light limited how fast I could ride.

However it was great fun.

The cycle to my friends house in daylight was lovely with probably 80% of the 21 mile ride off road and lots of single track and great views.

I used 41% of my battery getting to my friends house, grabbing something to eat in the town where he lives before arriving at his house. There I could leave my bike in his garage with the battery on charge.

We then went to an arts centre gig by a blues guitarist called Mark Harrison who was excellent.

The ride home used 48% of the battery, the extra battery used on the home leg due I am sure to not being able to ride as efficiently in the dark

The mileage on my 2015 Haibike Yamaha continues to rise as I ride on into my eighth year of ownership, now standing at 15,578

 

[georgehenry]

Pride comes before a .........

Took an off today. I have been lucky not to fall off too often but when I do...

A steep treacherous hill, too steep for me to get up in bottom gear using full power, with some drainage work that has left horizontal sleepers across the track with small half a foot drop offs, at about 12 foot intervals down the steepest part at the top with a lot of leaf litter on top and some sparsely spread aggregate underneath.

I don't use a dropper post so get behind my saddle. I went down this hill only a couple of weeks ago with no problem. Anyway somehow in trying to manual so as not to drop front wheel first down the third drop off railway style sleeper thing, I just did not get it right and in compensating by hauling on my grips to keep the front up off the drop I lost my grip and both hands came off my admittedly shiny old grips. After both your hands slip off on a steep downhill drop off unless you possess circus skills you are going down hard, and so I did.

All my injuries are on the right hand side, a grazed bloody elbow and knocked right knee and ankle. I broke my rear front mudguard off, and my display flew off, but was not lost.

I aborted my ride and headed back home on the road, to shower and apply antiseptic cream to my grazes. I think my knee took quite a wallop and there could be a spectacular bruise.

The bracket for my top peak front mudguards got broken in the fall where the rear mudguard attaches. The mudguards themselves are fine but the rear part of the bracket was sheared off by the impact. I found these mudguards lying on a track after they had fallen off someones bike a couple of years ago. When I looked online expecting to have to buy a new set of mudguards I found amazingly that you could buy just the bracket I broke for £4.99. The gear change had taken a knock but is working again fine. The display once found slotted on with no harm done. So hopefully not too much damage. At over 60 now I do not shrug off a fall in the same way as I did when I was younger.

 

[Nealh]

Ouch I know how you feel GH, I have come off once or twice on the S/Downs on a steep loose surface decent. When I feel the bike going I like to try and lay the bike down and slide in a controlled way if I can.
Gravel rash ouch, and can smart for a day or so. Hopefully is it minor rashes.

 

[soundwave]

don't delay apply today

as for going down steep hills its not a good idea to have ur ass over the back wheel in front of a seat post

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[georgehenry]

At my age a lot of what I do is probably not a good idea.

Nealh, I am usually quite good at falling, or used to be, but there was little time or options to choose on this one.

I know a dropper post would be a good idea but my rack attaches via a seat post carrier clamp.

I've only started doing the more challenging tracks again since retiring which is again probably a bit silly.

 

[Nealh]

The behind the seat stance is old school riding and it is one I have used and have done so occasionally still , EPJ used it until he was converted to droppers.

 

[georgehenry]

Going round in circles.....

On Friday the 13th of May,I rode a 26 mile mostly off road circular route on tracks I know well. When I got home I had 48% of my 400Wh battery left, equating to a 33 and a half mile total range if I had carried on riding and also consuming my battery at the same rate.

In truth, as my battery is now over seven years old, I now ride in a way designed to conserve it as much as possible, in eco and off, only using the higher middle assist setting for blasting me back up the steep hill to home right at the end of the ride.

The thing I really notice now as the battery ages is that after using the first half of its capacity, if I then put the battery under a more severe load, the capacity as indicated by my display falls away more quickly now.

I also noticed that as I age, now over 60, blasting around a 26 mile mostly off road route in eco and off, means that I get quite tired too!

Que sera sera

 

[soundwave]

my old 400w batt got to about7 years old and as i only use turbo means i doubt if id get 5 miles out of it now and forced to buy another bosch batt as got no choice.

https://www.avdweb.nl/solar-bike/batteries/battery-hack#top

 

[georgehenry]

I think I have used my battery in a slightly kinder way than you, however all lithium batteries decline slowly as they age.I have been really impressed with this one so far. I will just keep using it until it cannot give me a worth while range, and then consider my options.

 

[soundwave]

with that chip you could get jimmy to recell it but none in stock this year there are 3rd party ones but there not cheap.

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lol the 745w is only 1 euro more than the 625 wtf

 

[georgehenry]

That 745Wh battery looks tempting, but at a price! I have the range to do the rides I do. Only if I wanted to do a much longer ride would I not have the range. That battery dongle looks good too, and would allow me to re cell when they become available.

I did a 16 mile mostly off road cross country ride yesterday, once again using high power to be able to ride up a very steep hill directly to my house from the Station where I can burn through 5% of my battery in a mile.

I also had to pick up the pace considerable to make an earlier train and used more battery doing that.

So in theory at the rate I was using my battery I still had a total range of 37.

I notice I got my calculations wrong in my "Going round in circles" post, and having 48% of my battery left after 26 miles, had a much greater total mathematical range than the 33 miles I stated, and it was in fact 50 Miles. Really good for a 400Wh battery of whatever range, let alone one in its eighth year.

It shows that a crank drive allows you to sip your battery and use your motor only as much as you need to extend your range, or blast through it going as fast as you can like you do.

 

[AndyBike]

Going round in circles.....

On Friday the 13th of May,I rode a 26 mile mostly off road circular route on tracks I know well. When I got home I had 48% of my 400Wh battery left, equating to a 33 and a half mile total range if I had carried on riding and also consuming my battery at the same rate.

In truth, as my battery is now over seven years old, I now ride in a way designed to conserve it as much as possible, in eco and off, only using the higher middle assist setting for blasting me back up the steep hill to home right at the end of the ride.

The thing I really notice now as the battery ages is that after using the first half of its capacity, if I then put the battery under a more severe load, the capacity as indicated by my display falls away more quickly now.

I also noticed that as I age, now over 60, blasting around a 26 mile mostly off road route in eco and off, means that I get quite tired too!

Que sera sera

I dont think ive ever used eco setting. Sat in tour for a while but recently become addicted to turbo.
As to extending the life of the battery, given batteries are pretty damn expensive, at least the Bosch ones are. I'm making it a habit of sticking £2 in a box each and every time i put it on to charge. Once the box gets to 100 quid, i transfer that into a bank account, then continue on £2 at a time till the next 100 quid and so on and so forth.
Basic is 500 charges, but i usually recharge at about 50%, so my 2 quids will easily add up to a new battery when that time comes around.

 

[georgehenry]

I love the flexibility of an ebike. I rode mine today mostly cross country to the next town to shop at a Lidl that my town does not have. On the ride to The Lidl mostly off road, I only used eco and off, to get some exercise.

My shopping at The Lidl included two bottles of wine and three bottles of beer as well as two bulky bags of cereal and other items. I chatted to one of the staff I know well.

Then I needed to get a shift on to get back to the station to catch the train I wanted and blasted through the traffic to the front of a set of lights using higher power.

Back at my home town I needed a few more items and rode to another supermarket, along the river, enjoying the view and with the power off.

Then after shopping at the second supermarket, and ending up with two full and heavy panniers I blasted back up a winding hill to my home at around 18 miles an hour, up hill, fully laden. This used a disproportionate amount of battery but was great fun.

Used in this way the first 14 miles had used about 27% of my battery, and the remaining 4 miles had used 20%. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

My battery is now in its eighth year and working very well, so looking after them pays off.

 

[georgehenry]

16,000 Miles

Just a quick post to acknowledge that today I broke through the 16,000 mile barrier, having ridden 16,006 when I got back from my ride today.

last year I was using The Haibike to commute to work and back and really nothing else. However I only used it when it was light enough to see so that I could enjoy a cross country ride to work. Any shifts that started too early in the morning were still commuted to by electric bike, but a simple rear hub one rather than the Haibike. So the annual mileage for my commuting to work duties was split between these two bikes.

When I checked how far I had ridden The Haibike over roughly the same period from around the 20th of March to the 27th of June, I found that I have ridden The Haibike quite a lot further since I retired, simply on leisure/fitness rides than I did when I was using it to commute to work. My post retirement leisure riding total is 708 miles from late March to late June in 2022, and 486 miles almost the same period in 2021 when I was commuting to work.

However, all I think that has happened is that the rear hub bike I used to use to ride to work in the small hours is now getting used much less now that I have retired.

 

[soundwave]

id sell the hub bike and use the cash to get your motor serviced and get a new batt and that thing will be like brand new and last another ten years like my bike.

it is only 230 quid to change every bearing but the batt will make a big hole in the bank account but swapping them round now with a new one will keep it going for even longer and will do the same thing with my new 500w batt.

my 400w is down to 5 miles and only 40% left and then it drops so fast id doubt you get another 2 out of it they wont last forever.

 

[georgehenry]

It's Hot, Damn Hot

They say that only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun, but that is what I ended up doing today.

I needed to make a Lidl run, and rode a round trip journey of 18 miles. About a quarter on a canal tow path and the rest on the road.

So coming back the bike was loaded with, 11 bottles of beer, 3 bottles of wine, as well as sixteen other items including 24 loo rolls, so two full panniers and the loo rolls tethered to the rack.

I had only used eco and off to get to the Lidl but used my middle, standard power level as well on the way home.

The beauty of a laden electric bike is that you can still cover the ground at a good lick, in this case long sections at 19mph in eco with me pushing hard, and also maintain speed up hills by utilising the higher power setting, and off down the other side of hills. I did see speeds over 20mph but after lowering my gearing 20mph plus the odd mile or two per hour is the most I achieve pedaling now.

The Yamaha display includes a temperature gauge and mine did display 40 degrees on one section of exposed tarmac with the sun beating down and reflected back up from the tarmac. But only for a short section, then it dropped to 39 degrees!

I should have oiled my chain before I set off, I realised it was a bit dry on my return journey.

Probably meaningless stats now are that my chain has covered 605 miles, my cassette 1,737 miles and my total mileage has risen to 16,056.

Slightly less meaningless is that my original 400Wh battery, still had 58% left when I got home, now in its eighth year.

And my secret weapon against the heat, a circular intex pool that I bought years ago and drag out of my shed for a few weeks a year when we get a heat wave. Big enough, despite the prohibition notices on the side, to dive into, 12 feet across and two and a half feet deep, and bliss when the weather is hot.

I went in it before the ride, and again when I got home.

 

[georgehenry]

Heatwave 2

Today was supposed to be one of the heatwave peak days. I set off for another nearby town, with the first eight miles of the journey off road, but the last 3 miles on the road and mostly in direct sunshine on tarmac after my off road tracks ran out.


Cutmill Pond

I set off around 09:10 with the temperature on my Yamaha display showing a very reasonable 27 degrees fresh out of my shaded Garage. It quickly rose to 29 degrees out on the road.

A lot of my off road route was shaded by trees and where there was shade my temperature gauge showed 30 degrees.


Ferntastic, almost taking over the track, Lower Puttenham Common.

Crossing the first field where I was out in the direct sunshine my temperature gauge rose to 32 degrees, but dropped back down to 30 degrees when under the tree canopy.


No hiding from the sun crossing this dry field "Broomfields".

The last section of off road had me crossing a very dry Surrey Common, Crooksbury Common, where in direct sunshine the temperature gauge crept up to 33 degrees, and where I photographed the wood ant nest.


Wood Ant nest, Crooksbury Common.

Then onto the road, at first with patchy shade and then fully exposed and the temperature gauge showed 35 degrees.

I parked up outside the supermarket in my destination Town and enjoyed the air con inside to cool down while I shopped.

Then I caught an air conditioned train from Aldershot to Guildford. There should have been a quick connection to my home town 6 miles away, but not today, so rather than wait I rode the six miles home from there. Guildford was one of the spots that BBC weather had predicted 40 degrees.

I saw 39 degrees on my display out on the road, and burnt through some battery to maintain my speed to get home. I then saw the magic 40 degrees on my display, and then 41 degrees after I stopped on my driveway before putting the bike back in the garage.



A quick packing away of the shopping and then into my garden Intex pool with my adult kids. A great way to cool down. My pool only gets dragged out of the shed when really hot weather is forecast, but it makes home feel like a holiday and is such a good thing during a heatwave.



I bought the pool 9 years ago and it gets used for about 6 weeks a year in the hottest period of the summer. When I commuted to work I would sometimes arrive home after one in the morning and have a cooling swim before going to bed.

22 miles ridden, and using quite a bit more middle assist reduced my battery to only 42% remaining when I got home.

Still a potential range of 38 miles if I had carried on, although as most experienced ebikers know, range is a tricky thing to predict.

Total mileage now 16,078.

 

[georgehenry]

Grand Day Out

My son and I enjoyed a lovely leisure ride together yesterday on Sunday, with a great Pub as our target with Sunday Lunch booked for us.

I was on my 2015 Haibike Yamaha and my son was on my old Oxygen Emate City (The Old Nag) of 2011 vintage, but reinvigorated by a new battery from Yose.

After traversing Town from our home the journey was completely off road from the first track, both there and back, merely crossing the odd road to get from one track to another. Where the tracks were too steep for my old Emate I told my son to get off and walk it up the steepest bits using the unrestricted throttle to effortlessly drive the bike up beside him.

We both love nature and were rewarded at Cutmill Pond with a hunting Heron, bright blue damson fly's, and russet brown dragon fly patrolling, as well as a jumping water boatman amongst many others skating on the water tension.

Then more lovely tracks beneath trees and open fields fields to reach Crooksbury Common to park up against a tree and view a conclave of wood Ant nests and watch fascinated their busy activity.

Then via more sandy tracks to the pub, and two beautifully prepared roast dinners, with beer for me and Coke for my son.

Then back home using some different tracks at first and then closing the loop and using the same tracks as out outward journey in reverse.

28 miles ridden.

Note.

On some of the journey I could ride behind my son with my assist off slip streaming him.

At the pub I used a U lock through the back wheels of our bikes and an armoured cable through the U lock and round a railing as an anchor point. Key out of the Emate Yose battery, display off the Haibike Yamaha, Ortleib panniers off and moon rechargeable rear lights removed. The Oxygen has the front Quick release skewer and seat post clamp replaced by allen key operated ones as a mild deterrent to a casual thief.

It is The Haibike that records the mileage, and with my experience of the gradients and measured use of the assist I had over half of my original and now in its eighth year 400Wh battery left when we got back home.

We cooled off in the pool when we got back which is a might more refreshing than it was in the heatwave as it is unheated and on a North facing patio and more in shade now than earlier in the summer, and the temperature has now dropped to 19 degrees.

And to finish of the day we took my sons telescope out just before midnight to get great views of Saturn and her rings and faint moons and Jupiter and her much brighter shiny moons .

Not a bad day.

 

[georgehenry]

Bike Ride, Walk, Bike Ride, Sandwich

Brilliant day of exercise and fun yesterday.

An 18 mile ride to my good friends house, with the majority enjoying fantastic off road tracks and great scenery with in places far reaching views.

Then a walk with two good friends around the lovely countryside around Selborne, of Gilbert White fame, coming down the zig zag hanger at the end.

A lovely Cafe and then back to my friends house to enjoy the lovely 18 mile mostly off road and spectacular route home. Great views traversing The Devils Punch Bowl.

So 36 miles in total. I used half my 400Wh battery getting to my friends house where I could re charge it and half my battery again on my ride home.

The bike has now completed 16,186 miles.

I had heard a noise on my last ride from the motor, had a chat with Peter at Performance line bearings, checked the play on the motor bottom bracket by flexing the chain ring, and nipped up the chain ring bolts, also checking the motor bolts.

The result of this cured the noise and the motor purred along as normal.

 

[egroover]

Great updates as usual GeorgeHenry.

So is that 16k miles on the same motor and battery ? Superb if so